Every year on Feb. 2 a group of men wearing funny hats get up really early in the morning to go outside and stand in the cold while a small, furry woodland creature decide what the weather will be for the next month.

To the uninitiated (me) it looks more like a pre-dawn gathering of hung over Pennsylvania lodge brothers out for a post party drink and less like an attempt a predicting the long term weather patterns in North America. And since groundhogs are not indigenous to our part of the world, we can only speculate on how well they can forecast the weather.

No, in our little slice of heaven, ground hog takes on a whole other meaning. Down here prefer to have our hog in the form of sausage. And given the choice I’d rather stay at home with a mess of sausage gravy and some biscuits than standing around a tree somewhere waiting for a beast to stick his head out.

Sausage, in some form or other, has been around since ancient times. It can be ground up pork or beef and, in some cases, chicken or turkey. But by and large down here it takes the form of pork.

In many ways, the form hasn’t changed that much since it first showed up at a medieval barbecue. It’s still defined as seasoned, minced meat that can be stuffed into casings and cooked. I can also be cooked loose, not in the casing.

See, I told you it is versatile. It takes many various forms, everything from hot dogs to kielbasa and breakfast sausage to Andouille. For the purposes of this argument we will limit our discussion to the common household breakfast sausage.

And regardless of whether that beast sees his shadow or not, here are a few recipes that are guaranteed to make you want to get of the bed in the morning for the next six weeks. It doesn’t matter how much winter we have left.

Like sausage, gravy takes on many forms – all of them good. Here’s a tasty recipe that will be the center piece of any early spring brunch.

Sausage Gravy

Makes about 2-3 cups

½ pound bulk breakfast sausage (see note)

½ cup (1 stick) butter

½ cup all-purpose flour

6 cups milk

Salt and black pepper, to taste

Brown sausage in a non-stick skillet over medium heat, breaking up into small pieces. Cook for about 5 minutes or until cooked through.

Drain on a plate lined with a paper towel.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add flour; stir constantly for about 2 minutes. Gradually whisk in milk and bring to a boil; continue to whisk constantly. Reduce heat to medium and whisk until thickened, 8-10 minutes.

Stir in sausage and season with salt and pepper.

Note: I prefer the hot sausage but that’s just me. You can use whatever kind you prefer.

I’m not sure if the groundhog folks knew it but they planned their little festival just in time for the Super Bowl. Here’s a great recipe from the folks at Jimmy Dean Sausage.